יום שישי, 6 באפריל 2012

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Elder of Ziyon Daily News

Link to Elder of Ziyon

Breakin' Free - Fountainheads Passover Video

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 11:00 PM PDT

The Elder of Ziyon Haggadah still available for free download!

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 06:30 PM PDT



In 2009, I made a Haggadah using various sources from the Internet, with a religious Zionist theme. Since then a couple of thousand people have downloaded it and many used it for their sedarim.

It is suitable for printing. (I suppose it might work well on an iPad, but I don't recommend using it as an e-book for the seder. Especially around the wine.)

Every year I think I'm going to edit it and make it into a real Haggadah for purchase, and every year I'm too busy. Or lazy.

So you can still use it for free!

It is available here.

Passover greetings from the IDF and the Israeli Navy

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 04:30 PM PDT

First, a fairly standard but nice video from the IDF:





But I like this Israeli Navy photo better!





(h/t Israel Embassy Twitter and Ian)

PA Mufti denies there was ever a Jewish Temple!

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 02:30 PM PDT

From the ever-vigilant Palestinian Media Watch (not yet on their site):



PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein on PA TV News:

"They [Jews] want to say or suggest that this place (Temple Mount) was once, according to their claim, a Temple. However, in truth, there never was a Temple in any period, nor was there, at any time, any place of worship for the Jews or others at the Al-Aqsa Mosque site (built on the Temple Mount, 705 CE)."
[PA TV (Fatah), Jan. 5, 2012]
So where exactly did Mohammed tether his magical flying horse again? Ah, the wall of the Farthest Mosque that had not yet been built.

By the way, buried in the Palestinian Authority Central Bureau of Statistics website, we see a timeline of Jerusalem history that includes:


20 AD

Herod allows the return of the Jews and the building of the temple.

The date is obviously wrong, but it still contradicts the Mufti.

So does this PA tourism site:

Macdoni Alexander : The country was under the Persian regime, until Alexander conquered it in 332 B.C. Domination over Orshaleem, fluctuated at the time of his successors; The Batalma and the Sloqs. Population were influenced at the time of Heilinsity with the Greek civilization. The Sloqi king, Antiokhos, the fourth, in (165) B.C. destroyed the Temple and compelled the Jews to convert into Greek idolatry. That resulted in the flare up of the Macabian revolution, and the Jews won the independence of Orshaleem under The Hasmonians regime from 135 B.C to 76 B.c. 

These will get scrubbed soon, no doubt.

(h/t Andreas)

Lies about Christian access to Jerusalem during Holy Week

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 01:15 PM PDT

From WaPo:
Because of travel restrictions in past years, the vast majority of Christians living in the West Bank have been stopped at checkpoints and prevented from attending one of the most important religious services of the year. Israeli authorities require permits for entering Jerusalem. Local Christians estimate that only 2,000 — 3,000 permits are provided, despite the overwhelming desire among the 50,000 Palestinian Christians to travel from the West Bank and Gaza for the Easter week celebrations in Jerusalem.

Those who make it across checkpoints and into Israel are still barricaded by numerous walls and other security obstructions. As a result, even many who have permits are unable to make it to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In 2010, a Palestinian colleague of mine at World Vision, who had warm memories as a child of the Holy Fire service, was able to return to the Holy Sepulchre. She described the scene for those able to gain entrance to the church: "The crowd, striving to stay joyful, could still feel the change of what Easter had now become and the dark cloud of checkpoints, police forces, and denial of entry that had obscured the joy of this holiday."

While the ancient Christian communities around Jerusalem await the miracle of the Holy Fire this week, I pray for another miracle — one that would give full religious freedom to the Christians in the West Bank and Gaza. Holy Week has long been a time of pilgrimage to Jerusalem; Christians have worshiped there since the birth of the church, and these sites are a core aspect of the devotion of Palestinian believers.

From AFP:
Christian Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza need an entry permit, generally freely granted by the Israeli authorities, to attend religious festivals in Jerusalem.

From Times of Israel:
Israel's ambassador to the United States on Thursday denounced as "libelous" an article that appeared in The Washington Post which claimed that Israel prevents "the vast majority of Christians living in the West Bank" from entering Jerusalem to attend Easter holy week ceremonies.

"It's a libelous article," Ambassador Michael Oren said of the piece.

"The army and security services have created a situation where virtually any Christian in the West Bank can visit the Holy Places in Jerusalem on Good Friday and Easter." He estimated that some 20,000 entry permits had been issued this year.

Officials said only West Bank Christians suspected of posing a security risk were denied permits. They said Israel also annually issues hundreds of permits for the diminishing Christian community in Hamas-controlled Gaza to come to Jerusalem at Easter.

History repeats itself. See my piece from 2010 disproving a Reuters article claiming that the number of Christians visiting Jerusalem during Holy Week has plummeted since Israel controlled Jerusalem. In reality, it has gone way, way up. And that was when Israel only gave out 10,000 permits for Palestinian Christians - half the number given out this year.

And you may want to read my related 2010 article that destroys a lie about access to holy places in Jerusalem under Jordanian rule that was propagated by an Arab who is in no way an extremist - but that doesn't make him less of a liar.

HRW report on discrimination against Roma, Jews in Bosnia

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 12:10 PM PDT

From Human Rights Watch:
Roma, Jews, and other national minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina remain excluded from participation in national politics 20 years after war began, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Bosnia needs to remove ethnic discrimination against national minorities from its constitution, laws, and public institutions, Human Rights Watch said.

The 62-page report, "Second Class Citizens: Discrimination Against Roma, Jews, and Other National Minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina," highlights discrimination against Roma, Jews, and other national minorities in politics and government. Much of this discrimination stems from Bosnia's 1995 Constitution, which mandates a system of government based on ethnicity and excludes these groups from high political office. The report also shows the wider impact of discrimination on the daily lives of Roma in accessing housing, education, healthcare, and employment.
HRW definitely uncovers and highlights official discrimination against Bosnia-Herzegovina's minorities.

Their emphasis on Jews in the report is interesting.

There are only 500 Jews in Bosnia now, as opposed to (probably) tens of thousands of Roma and hundreds of thousands of members of other ethnic groups who suffer discrimination. The report even mentions that Jews manage to obtain high-level civil service jobs, although they are hampered from running for political office. So why is HRW emphasizing the comparatively few Jews?

There are two possible explanations.

One is that the Jewish community, although tiny, is well organized so it is easier to get perspective on minority rights by speaking to them. In fact, Jewish community leader Jakob Finci brought a lawsuit complaining about the inability of minorities to run for president. The Jews' cohesion gives them greater visibility.

But I can't help but think that the major reason that Jews are in the title of the report as well as disproportionately featured within was that HRW wanted to get more publicity, and Jews are news. The report barely mentions Albanians and Macedonians, who outnumber Jews by a factor of forty in the country.

This is not to say that the report is not a good exposé on the very real state-mandated discrimination in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its just that in this case their highlighting of Jews as victims seems a little misplaced, and possibly political.

More evidence of Iran's nuclear weapons program

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 10:55 AM PDT

Circumstantial, but still compelling.

From the end of a Ha'aretz article:
Regarding Syria's WMD aspirations, Clapper indicated that Damascus clandestine nuclear program, one on which it cooperated with North Korea, operated for more than a decade, since the late 1990s and until the 2007 destruction of the "Kibar" reactor.

According to the report, had the reactor not been destroyed – in an action attributed to the Israeli air force – the Syrian plant could have started producing weapons-grade plutonium. The IAEA's investigation of the "Syrian nuclear case" is ongoing.
So the North Koreans helped Syria in their clandestine nuclear weapons program - and there is strong evidence that the North Koreans are helping Iran in their nuclear program as well.

Who thinks that Iran is hiring North Koreans for their expertise in peaceful nuclear technology?

The question isn't if there is a smoking gun proving Iran's goal to produce a nuclear bomb. The question is, what evidence is there that the Iranian nuclear program is not meant for weapons?

PLO condemns efforts to protect Jewish lives at Mount of Olives

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 09:25 AM PDT

Islamist site Quds Media writes:
The Department of Jerusalem Affairs of the Palestine Liberation Organization condemned the planned opening of an occupying Israeli police station in the Mount of Olives tomorrow in the presence of internal security minister and police chief of the occupation in Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem affairs department warned in a statement of the seriousness of this which falls within the planned Israeli settlement of the Judaization of the Mount of Olives east of the Al Aqsa Mosque.
Here's something that happened on the Mount of Olives last week that they didn't condemn:
Last Tuesday, several hours before he was to wed, a young bridegroom wished to say a short prayer at his mother's grave on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives. He lost his mother last year and a visit to the cemetery constituted for him her inclusion in his special day. He was driven up by his friend Dror Klein.

As they neared their destination, a bucket of white paint crashed into the front windshield, obscuring Dror's view. A hail of stones followed.

In minutes some 30 to 40 young Arabs surrounded the vehicle, rocking it menacingly and hurling large rocks, cement blocks and broken pavement fragments at the two.

The bridegroom was dragged out of the car, a boulder was smashed on his head and he was beaten up to the sounds of Alahu Akhbar (God is great). Dror somehow managed to maneuver his Hyundai directly at the attackers. As they momentarily scurried, the bridegroom and his resourceful driver got away by the skin of their teeth.

Dror said the mob had "murderous looks and we began reciting Shema Yisrael" – the prayer Jews say when death seems imminent.

The terse police statement later noted that "light injuries were sustained. The victims were evacuated to Sha'arei Zedek Hospital. The police are trying to track down the perpetrators."

But the police know exactly where they came from. An Arab boys' school is positioned directly alongside the road leading to the venerable ancient Jewish cemetery. The majority of incidents originate there. The attackers are generally teenagers and they often prepare ambushes well in advance. The fact that they had paint at the ready, along with arsenals of heavy rocks, betokens unquestionable premeditation.

Moreover, their violence is steadily ramped up to the point where fatalities should surprise no one. For years they stoned vehicles on their way to the second holiest Jewish site in Jerusalem. Gradual escalation has led to actual concerted lynching attempts. This isn't esoteric information.

Predations occur daily. Headstones are hammered and graves daubed with paint and tar, smeared with human feces, covered in garbage and debris and defaced with hate inscriptions. Even the numerous graves of some of the most famous Jews throughout the generations aren't spared this deliberate despoilment.

Particularly maddening is the fact that the persistent and exacerbated attacks at the Mount receive minimal resonance in our media.

Several ways exist of putting an immediate and effective end to the daily anti-Jewish assaults. The school can be closed down until ironclad guarantees are obtained that brutality from its grounds would cease forthwith. Any repeat aggression would lead to another closure.

Alternatively, the police can establish a permanent presence on the road to the cemetery both to protect visitors and deter their tormentors. This isn't rocket science and can be achieved.

To allow unrestrained lawlessness at so sacred a site is what's fundamentally unthinkable. Mourners should not fear for their lives at any cemetery anywhere in Israel, but all the more so at the most ancient continuously used burial ground anywhere in the world.

The Mount of Olives was already consecrated as the last resting place for Jerusalem's Jews pre-First Temple days 3,000 years ago. It still serves that purpose. The only break was during the 19 years of Jordanian rule between 1948-1967. Not only were Jews barred entry then (in brazen contravention of armistice treaty obligations), but ancient irreplaceable tombstones were ripped out and used for the construction of roads, army barracks and – underscoring the intent to defile, desecrate and humiliate – as walls and floors of public latrines.

The Jewish return to an indisputably Jewish site is what world opinion and the Arabs now deem as "occupation."
You will not find a word in Arabic media condemning the daily desecration and attacks at the Mount of Olives. But as soon as the slightest step is taken to prevent such attacks, the PLO - Israel's purported peace partner - is quick to deplore Israel.

Maybe they want to use the gravestones to build more latrines. I'm sure they can find some UN resolution that they can twist to make it sound like it is their sacred right.

China showing new interest in Israel

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 08:10 AM PDT

Here's the summary of a new, very interesting JCPA report:
In recent years, the world has witnessed China's growing involvement in the international arena – whether through its veto in the UN Security Council, its military conducting anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden and contributing to peacekeeping missions in Africa and the Middle East, buying U.S. and EU debt, or its declaration that the South China Sea is an integral part of China.

In the minds of the Chinese, Jews retain a highly respected status as a people who have survived over the millennia against all odds and have attained achievements that belie their miniscule numbers. The Chinese take great pride in Shanghai's status as one of the only cities in the world that accepted Jewish refugees during World War II.

In the 12th Five-Year Plan, published in 2011, China's leadership announced a national intention to raise the country from being the world's factory to becoming a leading innovator. This new focus led the Chinese to seek the potential contribution of Israel – the "Start-Up Nation."

Interactions between China and Israel had risen significantly over the years but had remained largely "off the record," due to the Arab nations' strong influence on the PRC leadership's public approach to Israel. In 2011 this began to change. Five formally acknowledged Israel Studies programs were established across China, and in September, China's most powerful political body – the Communist Party – expressed a formal interest in Israel's political echelons in a public fashion by participating in the first-ever China-Israel Strategy and Security Symposium at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.

Despite its close ties with the Arab world, China was caught completely off guard by the Arab Spring. They were devastated by the $20 billion in losses they suffered with the fall of Gaddafi, hammering home their lack of understanding of the Middle East. In their search for accurate and reliable information, leading academics began to seek out Israel, an island of stability whose geographic proximity to the Arab Spring offers unique access.
The entire report is worth reading.

Egypt's MB tell US they are democratic, tell clerics they can legislate Sharia

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 06:50 AM PDT

How the Muslim Brotherhood tries to win over the West:
With PowerPoint presentations and political promises, Egypt's influential Muslim Brotherhood made its US diplomatic debut this week hoping to persuade Washington that the Islamist group is committed to democracy and rule of law.

A delegation from the Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the once-banned Islamist movement, has been making the Washington rounds talking to officials and think tank experts about their growing role as Egypt heads toward its presidential election.

"We are here to start building bridges of understanding with the United States," Sondos Asem, a member of the party's foreign relations committee and editor of its official English language website, said at a forum at Georgetown University in Washington.

But at the same time it is making promises to the Salafists, too:
The Muslim Brotherhood's candidate for Egypt's presidency is lobbying hard for support of ultraconservative Muslim clerics, promising them a say over legislation in the future to ensure it is in line with Islamic law, as he tries to rally the divided Islamist vote behind him.

The campaign dealmaking is a sign of how the Brotherhood, which is Egypt's strongest political movement and presents itself to the public as a moderate force, could be pushed into a more hard-line agenda by competition from the ultraconservatives known as Salafis.

Giving Muslim clerics a direct say over legislation would be unprecedented in Egypt. Specifics of the Brotherhood promise, which Salafi clerics said Wednesday the candidate Khairat al-Shater gave them in a backroom meeting, were not known. But any clerical role would certainly raise a backlash from liberal and moderate Egyptians who already fear Islamists will sharply restrict civil rights as they gain political power after the fall last year of President Hosni Mubarak.

It would also damage the image that the Brotherhood itself promoted for the past year, insisting it does not seek a theocracy in Egypt or to quickly implement Sharia.

Shater met for four hours Tuesday night with a panel of Salafi scholars and clerics, called the Jurisprudence Commission for Rights and Reform, trying to win their support.

The discussion focused on "the shape of the state and the implementation of Sharia," the commission said on its Facebook page Wednesday.

"Shater stressed that Sharia is his top and final goal and that he would work on forming a group of religious scholars to help Parliament achieve this goal," the statement read. The commission is an umbrella group of Islamist factions, mostly Salafis, set up after last year's anti-Mubarak uprising.

A Brotherhood spokesman could not immediately confirm the offer and attempts to reach the head of the commission went unsuccessful.

The promise resembled an item in a 2007 political platform by the Brotherhood, when it was still a banned opposition movement. It called for Parliament to consult with a body of clerics on legislation to ensure it aligns with Sharia. The proposal was met with a storm of condemnation at the time, and the Brotherhood backed off of it.
A democracy where the laws are decided and approved by a hand-picked group of unelected clerics? Congratulations, Egypt!

Egypt Independent also makes it sound like Shater is fighting an uphill battle to win the election as the Islamist vote would be split and a liberal candidate might take advantage of that, but I'm very skeptical. In a runoff election, the voting would go the way that the parliamentary elections went, so the MB candidate just has to make it to that point in order to guarantee an Islamist future for Egypt.

Amnesty implies the ICC is a Zionist tool (updated)

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 05:25 AM PDT

Amnesty International put out a press release about the recent International Criminal Court decision concerning its jurisdiction that could easily have been written by Hamas.

Earlier this week the ICC ruled that "Palestine" is not a state and therefore their complaints against Israeli conduct in the Gaza war do not fall under their jurisdiction.  The law is pretty clear in this case, and a host of lawyers from the US and Europe provided voluminous evidence for it.

Amnesty, however, doesn't bring a shred of evidence to the contrary. Instead, it pretends that it is the only real interpreter of international law, even beyond the ICC, in this absurd statement:

A "dangerous" statement by the office of International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor that it cannot consider allegations of crimes committed during the 2008-9 Gaza conflict means Palestinian and Israeli victims seem likely to be denied justice, Amnesty International said.

The Office of the Prosecutor today said that it cannot consider allegations of crimes committed during the conflict unless the relevant UN bodies or ICC states parties determine that the Palestinian Authority is a state.

"This dangerous decision opens the ICC to accusations of political bias and is inconsistent with the independence of the ICC. It also breaches the Rome Statute which clearly states that such matters should be considered by the institution's judges," said Marek Marczyński, Head of Amnesty International's International Justice campaign.

"For the past three years, the prosecutor has been considering the question of whether the Palestinian Authority is a "state" that comes under the jurisdiction of the ICC and whether the ICC can investigate crimes committed during the 2008-9 conflict in Gaza and southern Israel."

"Now, despite Amnesty International's calls and a very clear requirement in the ICC's statute that the judges should decide on such matters, the Prosecutor has erroneously dodged the question, passing it to other political bodies."

"Amnesty International once again calls on the Prosecutor to follow the procedures established by the Rome Statute by passing the matter to the judges, rather than frustrating efforts to bring justice to Palestinian and Israeli victims of the Gaza conflict."
It seems that Amnesty is claiming that the prosecutor does not have the legal authority to make the decision that the case cannot go forward.

Amnesty doesn't even pretend to argue with the legal basis given by the prosecutor in his ruling:

The first stage in any preliminary examination is to determine whether the preconditions to the exercise of jurisdiction under article 12 of the Rome Statute are met. Only when such criteria are established will the Office proceed to analyse information on alleged crimes as well as other conditions for the exercise of jurisdiction as set out in articles 13 and 53(1).

The jurisdiction of the Court is not based on the principle of universal jurisdiction: it requires that the United Nations Security Council (article 13(b)) or a State (article 12) provide jurisdiction. Article 12 establishes that a State can confer jurisdiction to the Court by becoming a Party to the Rome Statute (article 12(1)) or by making an ad hoc declaration accepting the Court's jurisdiction (article 12(3)).

The issue that arises, therefore, is who defines what is a State for the purpose of article 12 of the Statute? ...

In interpreting and applying article 12 of the Rome Statute, the Office has assessed that it is for the relevant bodies at the United Nations or the Assembly of States Parties to make the legal determination whether Palestine qualifies as a State for the purpose of acceding to the Rome Statute and thereby enabling the exercise of jurisdiction by the Court under article 12(1). The Rome Statute provides no authority for the Office of the Prosecutor to adopt a method to define the term "State" under article 12(3) which would be at variance with that established for the purpose of article 12(1).
No, as usual Amnesty chooses to declare what the law is and insult those who disagree - even if they happen to be the ICC. Amnesty didn't even bother to submit its own legal brief to the ICC. They'd rather argue about the law in press releases than in court.

Outrageously, Amnesty is implying that the ICC prosecutor is biased and that the decision was based on political considerations - as if the ICC is just another part of that nefarious Zionist lobby. This is something that one would see in a Hamas or Fatah newspaper; it is not something that one would expect a human rights organization to say. In fact, it is Amnesty that is trying to politicize the ICC by demanding that they shortcut through the law in order to slam Israel as quickly and thoroughly as possible. If there was any political pressure on the prosecutor, it came from Amnesty and the other NGOs in concert with the "Government of Palestine."

The irony is that if the PLO has decided to go to the General Assembly last year instead of the Security Council, they would certainly have elevated "Palestine" into being a "non-member state" - which is enough for the ICC to consider jurisdiction. (There are plenty of other reasons why the application should be dismissed, but this particular point could have gone in the PLO's favor had they not decided to go for broke last year.)

UPDATE: Amnesty wants ICC prosecutors to have a lot of leeway, as long as it is in the direction they demand:
"It is essential now that the strongest candidate be elected in a public process that gives confidence to everyone who depends on the important work of the International Criminal Court," said Marek Marczynski, Amnesty International's Campaign Manager on International Justice.

"As well as continuing with the existing cases, the Prosecutor will play a large role in determining where the ICC conducts its investigations and which new cases it takes on. Governments, civil society and millions of victims of human rights violations around the world will be looking to the new Prosecutor to pursue international justice to the highest standards."
(h/t Ian)

Hamas and Fatah both brag about results of student elections in Bir Zeit

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 02:39 AM PDT

Who cares about student elections at a local university? When it is the only election going on in the Palestinian Arab territories, apparently everyone does.

Both Hamas and Fatah websites are featuring headline articles about the results of student elections at Bir Zeit University earlier this week.

Fatah won 26 of 51 seats; Hamas won 19, the PFLP 5 and the"Popular Struggle Front" 1.

Fatah is calling this a "landslide" victory and bragging that Hamas received one less seat than the last time they were allowed to run, in 2009. The Secretary of president Abbas spoke about the victory and the winning students celebrated at Yasir Arafat's grave.

Hamas is emphasizing that it was not allowed to run in the last few elections so that this is a great victory for them. They also point out that the Fatah bloc has gone down from 29 seats least year to 26 now.

Back in the slightly more real world, Mahmoud Abbas says he will not take over as prime minister as agreed upon in Doha until Hamas starts preparing for elections in Gaza, which they have not started yet. So for now, student elections are the closest thing to democracy in the territories for the foreseeable future.
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